Reader Recs: Rachel’s Faves

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Dear Wendy readers are some of the most intelligent, stylish, super cool people around (it’s a proven fact), so, when a commenter suggested I create a regular feature for them to recommend some of their favorite products, it was a no-brainer and Reader Recs was born. Today’s recommendations come from Rachel, who is a scientist who studies weather, though she just moved to San Diego where there is very little weather to speak of. She lives with her fiancé, dog Toby, and cat Kydoimos. For fun Rachel enjoys watching football, bowling, live music, and patio drinking. Check out her recommendations below!

[email protected]
This movie tells the story of a chorus filled with senior citizens, who do good justice both to classic songs and newer stuff you would never expect to hear your grandparents sing. It’s a sweet, sad, and funny movie – I’ve given it to a few people as a gift and it’s never disappointed. I’ve actually seen the [email protected] chorus live, too!

Snowball White – Adjustable Cat Safety Collar
My cat is a master at getting out of collars, and this is the one that seems to have outsmarted him. Whether it’s built better, or is just light enough that he notices it less, who knows. It’s cheap, and comes in a ton of colors!

Vera Bradley Zip-Around Wallet
I love, love, love this wallet. It’s big enough for all my crap, and it zips closed and has a wrist strap, so I can shove my phone in it and use it without a purse for a night out. Also, since it’s Vera Bradley, it comes in roughly a zillion colors/patterns. I get compliments on it all the time.

Original Hoberman Sphere–Rainbow
Because I couldn’t think of anything related to weather to recommend, I figured I would include my favorite nerdy toy. You can hang it – but I think it’s more fun to toss around, and puzzle out how exactly it can fold up so small.

Thanks, Rachel!

If you have some products you’d like to recommend to the DW audience, shoot me an email at [email protected] with links to five recommendations. (Write “reader recs” in the subject line please). Your recommendations can be from any store or website, but they need to be accessible online — and I would love it if at least two items could be found on Amazon where I am an affiliate. If your list is a good fit for the site, I’ll ask you to write a brief description of each item/ explain what you love so much about it.

I’ve used that sphere to teach kiddos dynamics such as forte and piano (loud and soft) as well as crescendos (gradually getting louder) and decrescendos (gradually getting softer). It’s a great teaching tool!

Yeah, a lot of music teachers use it actually — it doesn’t take up very much space, kids love the visual, and you can even fit a kindergarten (or two) inside when it’s spread out. Little kids learn through experience!

Yay, let’s hear it for recommendations from San Diego! But what’s all this nonsense about having no weather to speak of in SD?? Pffft. We have weather – sunny, hazy, sunny, partly cloudy, sunny… Yeah, I’m being a total idiot here. 🙂

Oooh, I want one of those Vera Bradley wallets. I loved looking at the names of all the patterns too. One of them is called “Happy Snails.”
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I’m thinking: Dogwood, English Meadow, or Provencal. Thoughts?

I was gifted the Provencal wallet for Christmas and haven’t used it (because I’ just gotten a new one last summer and prefer it). I can take a look around and try to find were I put it — if you want mine (for free), it’s yours!

My everyday purse is a Vera Bradley in the pattern shown here – and even better, I got it for $16 at a consignment shop. Now I feel I must have the wallet. I get compliments on it a lot too and because I wear a lot of blue, green and purple, it goes with most of my everyday outfits. And has lasted a lot, lot longer than previous bags.

That cat collar is super cute! I’m going to buy one as soon as I can choose a color.
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I made the mistake of letting my husband pick out the last cat collar we bought. It’s got a little green bow-tie, so it’s adorable, but it’s also really impractical. I have to adjust it 17 times a day when his tag gets caught up in the bow-tie part. Thankfully he likes collars and doesn’t mind me messing with it, but still.
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On another note, my husband needs a DW name. Typing out “my husband” all the time makes me want to vomit a little. So far, the only things I can think of are Astro-Man and Kitty Daddy–like baby daddy, only funny because it’s about cats. I don’t know. Anyone?

Oh, and I love anything and everything Vera Bradley. I have the full luggage set of the old breast cancer awareness pattern, but I’m bummed they’ve since retired it. Don’t have this particular clutch yet, but maybe I should for the summer.